OTTAWA—Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and his party have widened their public-opinion lead over the ruling Conservatives in the past few weeks, according to a new poll by Forum Research.

Liberals were the preferred party for 39 per cent of poll respondents, compared to 31 per cent for the Conservatives and 19 per cent for the New Democratic Party.

In terms of leadership, Trudeau also scored highest in approval, with 43 per cent, compared to 34 per cent for Prime Minister Stephen Harper and 38 per cent for NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair.

But Trudeau and Harper are essentially tied when the question is “who would make the best prime minister?” — 28 per cent say Harper, 27 per cent say Trudeau, and 16 per cent say Mulcair.

The overall support numbers represent a rebound for the Liberals from last month, when Trudeau sparked controversy with his declaration that the party was firmly pro-choice on abortion — a position he underlined once again on Wednesday when he made clear that all MPs, current and future ones, are expected to vote in favour of choice in any abortion-related matters in the Commons.

Prince Edward Island MP Lawrence MacAulay, who had said earlier this week that he considered himself exempt from the rule, publicly stated that he would go along with the leader’s position.

“I accept and understand the party position regarding a woman’s right to choose,” MacAulay declared on Twitter. “Despite my personal beliefs, I understand that I will have to vote the party position should this issue ever come up in the House of Commons.”

(At the end of May, after several weeks of criticism and commentary about Trudeau’s harder line on abortion, Liberal support was pegged at 36 per cent in Forum polling, while Conservatives were at 30 per cent and the NDP was at 23 per cent.

“It appears his public has forgiven him this controversy, and he has regained most of the ground he and his party might have briefly lost,” Forum Research president Lorne Bozinoff, said in a statement accompanying the poll release.

Liberal support, according to Forum, is highest among people in Ontario and Atlantic Canada, as well as mothers with children and people with higher levels of income or education.

Though none of the poll questions drew any parallels between Trudeau’s Liberals and their newly victorious Liberal cousins in Ontario, the rise in federal support took place at the same time as Premier Kathleen Wynne’s party was bouncing back from predicted defeat to a majority victory last week.

Forum Research conducted the poll on Monday and Tuesday this week through an interactive voice response telephone survey of 1,683 randomly selected Canadians 18 and older. Results based on the total sample are considered accurate within two percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

The poll also comes when the Liberals are in two intense byelection fights in Ontario — Trinity-Spadina and Scarborough-Agincourt, where voters will choose new MPs on June 30.

Conservatives turned up the heat on Trudeau this week in Scarborough-Agincourt with a series of ads alleging the Liberal leader would make it easier for young people to get access to marijuana.

“Trudeau wants marijuana in local stores, just like alcohol and cigarettes,” states a Conservative flyer, showing Trudeau beside a picture of a young boy lighting a joint.

On Wednesday, Trudeau called the ad campaign “disgusting.”

“Anyone who would accuse a father of three, as I am, of wishing harm on children needs to seriously ask themselves some questions about how they choose to practice politics,” Trudeau told reporters.

The flyers also contain anti-Trudeau quotes from former Liberal MP for Scarborough-Agincourt, Jim Karygiannis, who has spoken out publicly against the new pro-choice policy for the party.

But on Wednesday, he clarified that this “grandfathering” provision only applied to whether they would be approved as candidates. No matter how they have voted in the past, they would be expected to adhere to the party’s pro-choice position, Trudeau explained.

“The grandfathering was around the nomination process,” Trudeau said. “But the policy going forward is that every single Liberal MP will be expected to stand up for women’s rights to choose.”

More on thestar.com

We value respectful and thoughtful discussion. Readers are encouraged to flag comments that fail to meet the standards outlined in our
Community Code of Conduct.
For further information, including our legal guidelines, please see our full website
Terms and Conditions.